Friday, April 4, 2014

Ryan plan drops people with pre-existing conditions, dump kids under 26 off their family plans.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says in a new interview that it would be too costly for Republicans to reinstate some of the more popular provisions of Obamacare if and when the law is repealed, but that Republicans should look for alternatives.

The former GOP vice presidential nominee was asked on Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" about whether Republicans would keep provisions like requiring coverage for pre-existing conditions, keeping kids on their parents' insurance until they are 26 years old and barring insurance companies from having different rates for those whose jobs include physical labor.

The first two provisions are among the most popular parts of Obamacare, which as a whole is not popular. But Ryan says such provisions would also drive up the cost of insurance too much.
"If you look at these kinds of reforms, where they've been tried before — say the state of Kentucky, for example — you basically make it impossible to underwrite insurance. You dramatically crank up the cost. And you make it hard for people to get affordable health care."
Below, Ryan questions the premise that ObamaCare signed up 7.1 million people. Even at 24 million people covered by 2017, Ryan isn't happy with "the approach." It's the process, big government. He will repeal it, which is what I've been saying all along. Republicans don't care how many people lose their health care, despite their current whining about it. Here's Bloomberg's Al Hunt and Political Capital:


Ryan's idea of "affordable" health care? It should be cheap and not cover much. See what our wonkish numbers guy came up with before. Remember this bad idea?
In 2009, Ryan offered a joint alternative with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), which would have taxed the full value of employer health benefits and provided refundable tax credits to help families and individuals purchase employer or nongroup coverage. Economists had predicted that equalizing the tax treatment of health care benefits could discourage businesses from offering insurance and lead at least 20 million Americans to lose their employer coverage . 

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